Well, a late night discussion raged last night involving Melissa, Krishen and I as we tried to hash out an effective solution to impaired driving. The question: “Should a vehicular accident involving an imparired driver could carry a 1st degree murder charge (pre-meditated) ?” The statement comes from the fact that as a society we are educated in the dangers of driving while impaired – Sleep, Drinking, Drugs, or Cell phones. So we should be capable of making the judgment call of if we should drive or not. Thus, if you get behind the wheel while impair you are essentially stating “Lets go kill someone tonight” – and thus carry similar penalties.
Problem is that you would have to have proof to convict someone. So while drugs and alcohol leave a trace, is there a way to measure a persons ‘tiredness’ ? Then on top of that – how do you enforce it ?
My personal opinion is that the driver already ‘signs’ a contract stating that he/she/it is capable of driving – it is called turning the ignition and stepping on the gas. Unless the driver is required to pass a physical exam and drug test prior to getting behind the wheel, there no practical solution. As a driver you are responsible not only for yourself and your passengers but also all pedestrians and traffic (bikes, cars, trucks, planes, and trains). Redundancy in this situation just reduces the connivence – thus reducing the ability to gain public support.
The way to gain the results, I believe, is to ease the restrictions, add research money into devices that assist the ‘user’ make a qualified decisions (since being impaired effects your judgment), and then stiffen the penalties. Which basically takes us full circle. “Should a vehicular accident involving an imparired driver could carry a 1st degree murder charge (pre-meditated) ?”
Thoughts ? Krishen looks at being impaired through lack of sleep
You know … I have no idea how this came up in conversation, especially since we just finished watching “Star Trek: Nemisis” … maybe it had something to do with Troy piloting the Enterprise ?? “Nemisis” turned out to be a nice conclusion to the Next Gen sage … which in my opinion was the best of the 4 concluded series.
Follow